The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultiver of Euphorbia milii plant, commonly known as Crown of Thorns, hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Katie's Crown’.
The new Euphorbia milii is the product of a natural breeding program conducted by the inventor, John A Pulling Jr. in Naples, Fla. The new Euphorbia milii originated from a polycross made in the year 2003 in the inventor's garden in Naples. The parental cultivars are unnamed and nonpatented seedlings of Euphorbia milii. Seeds were collected from several varieties of Euphorbia milii in the inventor's backyard. The seeds were planted in community pots and let sprout and grow. As the seedlings grew, they were planted in six inch pots and grown for a year. The new Euphorbia milii cultivar was chosen from about three hundred seedlings propagated in the year 2003. The new plant was selected based upon its rapid compact growth, flower color, nonpersistent blooms, freely branching habit and high resistance to insects and disease. The plants are bushy, compact and have an abundance of mottled hot pink flowers which cover the plant during the flowering period.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cuttings harvested and propagated in trial production batches at Naples, Fla. have shown that the unique features of this new Euphorbia milii are stable and reproducible true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction. In the spring of 2004, about 15 cuttings were taken from the new plant and a second and third generation of cuttings have been taken from these offspring. All plants have reproduced true to type.
The new Euphorbia milii had cuttings taken from it in March of 2004. The cuttings were planted in potting soil in four inch pots, then placed outdoors under partial shade and watered once a day by hand. Initial rooting in the four inch pots started in about three weeks. After being well rooted, they were transferred to six inch pots for a period of time and then finally transferred to eight inch pots. From the initial cuttings planted in March 2004, the plants grew to a height of about 30 cm by October 2004. The plants were fertilized during the growing period with dry granular fertilizer at two month intervals.